Little Jenny on Chistmas 2014

Two or three years ago on my birthday I got bad news from my sister that she had cancer. I was so overwhelmed that I decided to take a long drive to take my mind off of things. I never expected to hear this kind of news about My little sister Jenny and I had just recovered from another long depression and I was determined not to fall into another one. I tended to comfort myself with food and it was time to stop that. I had thought about what I had not done with my life yet. I had tried to start bands, but had still not played a whole song all the way through with a group yet. I had a clear acrylic green plexi glass bc rich guitar that was in mint condition, but it really was for show and if I scratched it it would lose value so I decided to go to Norms Rare Guitars in the valley which was about an hour and a half away to trade it in on something I could play and not just look at. The main thing in mind was to work on my life. I had become very aware how short life is after losing my Uncle who was a great friend and mentor. I thought about life on the way to Norms and cried a lot. I got there and looked around for a nice telecaster. The workers there told me they did not want my guitar, but then Norm himself walked over and gave me a good deal in trade. I wanted an American made one, but decided on a nice wood finish Mexican tele that was just like the USA model. It was a special edition. I also brought my sparkle gretsch historic series to find a nice used hard case for it which I got for very cheap. I had told Norm my story and he was such a nice guy he helped me out. My friends in town that were in bands said they would help me kick out the jams. The first attempt I choked. I tried another group of friends after I had got my new tele which I named "Little Jenny" after my sister. I got through it, but I almost had a heart attack, due to being out of shape. We took a photo that day of the three of us which I look at every time I need to get myself going. I was very out of shape, but my pals were there for me. I started guitar lessons and asked myself what else I had to do with my life. I wanted to start my own buisness but to do that I had to get healthy. I started guitar lessons for discipline and structure that was needed in my life. My instructor Walter was a younger thrash metal guitar player who is also classically trained. Guitar had slowly become a bigger part of my life which is what I wanted. Walter was a very good listener as well as being very wise for his age. He gave me encouragement in life as well as guitar. I went to see his band Shadows Entwind at the Key Club and we bonded over comic book talk now and then. I started a doctor supervised liquid diet class for the third time in my life and told myself this was going to be the time I do this for a better life. I was diagnosed as being pre-diabetic and my knees were having trouble supporting my weight. I had my guitar to practice, my painting to do for my business, and now I had a band (even if it is more like a group of new friends). I had built up lots of paintings at home in my spare time after being downsized at my last job. I really worked much more on my art at home than I did at my day job anyway. Day after day and one step at a time, and by keeping busy I kept my mind so busy I had no time to be sad. Every day was a struggle at first, but at the end of the day I felt like by making good choices and putting in the work I felt I had small victories each day.  

I had heard about Crafted which was a craft and art market in town and decided when I had gotten were I needed to be with guitar lessons it was time to try having my own shop. I got more serious abot taking care of my self because I needed more mobility to run my shop too. I take walks around Crafted's warehouses all the time. I pick up rock in the parking lot each time to keep myself distracted from the fact I am actually exercising. The guitar lessons were exercise too. I still play guitar all the time at my shop and at home. I have not played "little Jenny" for awhile now as the shop has taken over most of my time now but I will play her this Christmas week because yesterday I got a call from my sister Jenny to tell me she is cancer free. Which was the best Christmas present I ever got. So paint that  picture, play that guitar, go for a drive, pet your pet and if you have family and friends around tell them you love them and give them hugs. Thank you to my friends and family for saving my life. To my sister Jenny.... Take care of yourself, you are very loved... Move forward and live your dreams. I love you. You are my hero.

My best Christmas toy

I think it was Christmas 1974. I had unwrapped all my presents. I had the snoopy toothbrush which my sister and I would share (it had 2 brushes one yellow and one red, I think my brush was yellow). I remember getting a watch with a space capsule on the fast hand that circled the moon on the face. I got LA Rams pajamas I circled in the Sears catalog and a big batch of Lego bricks my folks got in bulk wholesale (that's what I was told, it was a lot of bricks and I was worried they cost too much because the small sets at toys r us were pricey). The one thing I really wanted was what all the kids on the block wanted. The thing we saw in comic book ads: the Evel Kennevil stunt cycle. I did not see it. Everyone was done and it was over. I started to get bummed out but I was still happy with the loot I got. My dad said,"I think you missed one" and you know the deal... It was stashed in the corner. I took it down the block to my pal Danny's and he got the scramble van and we set up the ramp and jumped evel over that van and the neighborhood cats, tin cans, or whatever else we could find. His family also got rock em sock em robots which broke in the first 10 minutes. I think we busted part of Evel too. Then we built ramps with two by fours and bricks and jumped them on our bikes. We pulverized our toys mostly. Maybe one day they will make a good repro stunt cycle. 

Rejected!

An old friend who I had not spoken to in a while (mostly because he always wants to use my art to make money for him) called me this week with yet another job for me. It had a 3 day deadline but I was promised a good payday and I really thought maybe this friend was trying to help me out. He baited me with old stories to get me excited about the project and even talked about taking a road trip to visit another friend. Everything was awesome... I got the work done and sent it in. Once it was in their hands I was told it wa not what they wanted even though I sent lots of concept art and sketches. It looks like I may not get paid at all for 3 days of my life, but sometimes just getting people like this out of your life can be the reward. The job was for a hotrod company. The art that was rejected is posted above. I was told it was too much of my thing... My first mistake was picking up the phone to talk to him. 

My new path has less of these people on it. I am glad this happened. I signed no contracts so I guess I still own all of this art. I am sure they will try and sell it to the company they were working with. Who knows.... I just draw the art and stay on the path. Humans sure are strange sometimes. That's how it goes...

Pop Kustom Shoppe is ready for the holidays!

We are loaded up with new work down at the shop which is inside a craft market called Crafted 110 e.22nd street in warehouse 10, San Pedro, Ca, 90731... My shop is called Aicher's Pop Kustom Shoppe located in space 118a. I'm there Friday thru Sunday from 11am to 6pm. The market has many weekend events and lots of other shops that sell handmade things. Some weekends we have live music and wine tasting (they call it sip and shop) it's family friendly and their is a creation station with activities for the young ones. My shop is located in the back left hand corner. Look for the banners with the honey bees out on 22nd street. Warehouse 9 in in front of warehouse 10 and is being converted to a brewery and artisan food market and I am told they are planning some events before they open next year to give folks an idea about their beers and plans... I don't drink but I have talked to folks that are raving about how good the beer is. They travel the world for their ingredients and they tell me they will have a cafe too. 

I am working on two or three new book projects that should be done by the beginning of next year (soon) so when I can I will let you know when I am ready to launch them. Finally we got some rain and hopefully more soon. The clouds inspire me often and I love the day after the rain. The sunrises and sunsets have been glorious lately and if you have not seen them in a while you should. Living in and growing up Southern California it sometimes escapes me how pretty it is here. 

Be kind to humans... See you at the market!

We are the champions my friend....

When Freddy Mercury sang those words he meant it. The rest goes,"and well keep on fighting till the end" ....remember that? This week was a challenge for me in many ways. I ran into the old food "sabotage" a few times this week. That's where people offer you food to knock you off your path. Whether these folks' intentions were good or not the fact is I had to deal with it. Not like it won't happen again... So I delt with it. Usually I might run to retail therapy or start a new painting but this time it got in my head. Self doubt and depression set in and fuck that shit, so in case you want the story of why I have decided to turn my life around here it is. My knees started giving out and it was getting hard to stand. My doctor had just told me I was pre-diabetic and diabetes had recently killed an uncle of mine. My wife turned to me and asked me with fear in her eyes,"what if you have to be in a wheelchair and are too heavy for me to push" ....that's called shit got real. I made changes which helped a lost weight by going once a week to weight management classes and I talked. I talked a lot. Sometimes I made others in my class uncomfortable about discussing why I had problems with food, but like I said... This is it. Do it now. Last chance. Your life sucks or or life rules. Take your pick. I am sorry if I hurt anyone's feelings from my class, but this is my life and I only have one and it's mine. I still don't like exercise, but every time I take even the smallest steps I am always glad I did it. That doesn't mean a dicathalon... But if you start small by the time you know it you might want to try one. I'm not a sports guy. I have always been a cruiser not a competteter but I am not afraid of a challenge either. Last year I planned to ride my bike in the long beach marathon bike tour. The weather and life issues set me back and I did not train enough and was in no shape to even attempt it. I failed. Now my intention to to walk the Vincent Thomas bridge next year in the bridge walk. It's walking. Not as hard but still hard enough. It's five miles across. If I conquer it I will attempt long beach again. This week I am signing up for the excercise fitness class my health care plan offers. It is step one. I will make better choices this week and I will take no shit from jive turkeys. Make it happen. That is all for now. Be good to each other humans. See you on the bridge.

Rock and Roll

I thought I would write about my favorite rock band Kiss today. I find the tension that drives rock bands to create great music is always alive in any Kiss fan. Gene Simmons steers the ship and he would have you believe he was captain, but clearly the wind in the sails is Paul Stanley. Often questioned is his sexuality, but clearly and secure in himself just like many from the glam era he lead the band though battlefield arenas to fame. After reading his book it's clear he had a rough childhood, but did not let that stop the music. Kiss has always been considered a joke band due to the simplicity of their songs and for the seventies their appearance was shocking but has become so iconic and familiar it has become part of our culture. For the fans the music is something we connected to because the make up made it counter culture and the music was some of the hardest rock of the time, but within those live albums was where the community started. Paul would lead the crowd with "do you believe in rock and roll?" And often shouted, "we love you!". Obviously those live records were studio enhanced, but as a young boy who needed something to believe in I bought it. I spent any allowance I had on records and magazines I would get from the grocery, record and liquor stores. It was right there in the songs where to get your teenage fix "around the corner at the liquor store". They talked to us like adults. It was intended as adult music but because of the image kids were drawn to it like horror movies. I remember in 1975 I had their first record and my friend gave me Dressed to kill for my birthday. We had not even seen the costumes yet because they had suits on, but the suits with the makeup made them look like scary thugs. The Warriors movie was out the and some of my friends from school had got to see it when their older brother took them to the movies. The make up theme made me start drawing the make up. I thought it would be easy to draw so I had contests with my friends in school drawing kiss and warrior pictures. I soon found a compulsive urge to perfect my drawings. I entered a school drawing contest in 1978 after getting the Ace Frehley solo album for my birthday that year. My parents encouraged me to enter my drawing of the Ace record cover in the contest. It was a pretty good drawing and I thought I would do really well with it because by that time I had built up my skills drawing everyday in my room with my headphones on listening to kiss, Sweet and Aerosmith (those were the 3 records I owned.) my sister was younger and did not understand the attention I was getting and decided to add her touch to my drawing. Let me say for the record I forgive you Jenny. She still remains my biggest fan and wether she knew it or not became my first critic. (I drew it over and won second place.) I forgive you little sister, and second place is o.k. Sometimes. Peter Criss in 1976 had all the girls singing Beth (including my sister) and made all us young boys understand how we got here in the first place. The only other sad song of that year that made me cry was "only women bleed" by Alice Cooper (which was of course where kiss got the whole idea) this song would become the theme song of the beginning of the end of my parents marriage. They fought a lot then and did their best to keep it behind closed doors but my door was just down the hall. Ace Frehley was the main man for me in Kiss. Mostly because he was reluctant to be a singer at all but when he did it was real. You can hear it on any of those early records especially Alive 2 where he was formally introduced as a singer as well as being the most important part of kiss's music the lead guitar player. He sounded like he would mess up even as he played which was his trademark of his playing style. On stage he had swagger where Gene had the theatrics and Pete (with the same kind of style as ace) kept the beat. I had the smoking guitar poster on my wall then. My dad smoked then. Soon my buddies and me would be smoking too. Sooner or later that ended, but in the 70s and 80s we had smoke. I was always at least aware that it was only entertainment (it's only rock and roll) but I still like it even if today I don't have the smoke and booze to go with it. I don't want to go back because life move forward but now and then I follow the logic of Cheap Trick and get my Kiss records out. I still collect Kiss merch now and then, but I kind if feel like the man in charge (Gene) has steered the ship into the rocks for good. The reason most fans got into the music is we wanted to play it too. I wanted to design Kiss record covers like the great Ken Kelly did for Love Gun, Destroyer and just this year Ace Frehley's new cd Space Invader. One day my personal hope us that visual art meets up to the same kind of importance music artists have. On thing is for sure I don't have any desire to play football for the L.A. Kiss football team. Most of the jocks bullied kiss fans back in the day so I guess it is what it is. I do remember the god of thunder (gene) in make up on the poster on my wall scared me at night when I was young and I had to overcome my fear of the demon. He is a great bass player and I do dig his solo lp too. Defiantly Paul and Gene where going for the Beatles and Ace and Peter were more Zeppelin and Stones and no they all don't get along. I really would like to hear a record from Peter and I love the new Ace record. I loved Sonic Boom but the long wait for Monster and promises that never happened like vintage Kiss DVDs let me down, but it's only entertainment. I don't want to see a second reunion but I do still believe in Rock and Roll which despite the wishes of Mr. Simmons, will never die. Today I will turn up the music and paint into tomorrow, hope to see you there.... Goodnight! 

Onward! Paint like you mean it...

I have noticed this younger generation has found their voice. The new music escapes me and hipster culture has arrived... Don't be confused grungers we are indeed old and are in no way "hip". We are, however, the last pre digital age. I started painting classes when I saw the art of Robert Williams' first books. It blew my mind that art may become as radical and bitchen as surfing and rock and roll so I set out to build an art ark (a big body of paintings) to sail out of the 90's and into the future. Now that we have the digital age and folks just steal any image or recording they want it is all the more important to show these eager young hipsters how to paint and draw. Due to the leftover stoner culture of yesterday it is now,"cute" and "hey that's neat" to paint or draw by hand. At least that's what they tell me. Don't talk about it, do it. Do it while they still make paper and canvas. It does not cost much and your mind will take you to new places if you open it up enough. Once apon a time we had art departments to run and the hipsters took them over. Don't lose your sense of humor but let's not be just crass and slapstick... Make it good! I see hope for us all still, but it takes hard work. I don't care if you want to use your cell phones or play video games all day. That's stress relief for some. On line shopping will convince you you need it even more. The machine has begun its mission to overthrow humanity and humanity is eagerly craving more. I am reaching out to those of you who still care as I do.  If you see an artist and you like the work and buy it it makes a difference. U2 wants your mind and money. Another Irish band had a song about a suspect device. They still play today too. Joey Ramone is spinning in his grave. I had to rant a bit about this. Thanks for listening. Get to work! ...did you get the new Motörhead cd yet?